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Episode 1426: Fun or Foul
Date September 5, 2019 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller debate whether a fact about Michael Lorenzen’s multi-way play is fun, banter about Nelson Cruz’s unflagging offense, technology and the future of the knuckleball, and an ignominious achievement by Billy Hamilton, then answer listener emails about the lack of four-homer games, what would happen if foul balls caught in the stands counted as outs, and whether (and how) MLB should ask its audience what it wants to see, plus a Stat Blast about the most-ever talent on one team and another fun-fact debate (about Cody Bellinger). Topics * Billy Hamilton's low exit velocity * Lack of four-homer games * Episode 1422 follow-up: If catching a ball in the stands were an out * Paying players to be in the stands * Most career WAR on one team * Surveying baseball fans to see what they want from the game * Growth of baseball and impact of TV * Differences between what MLB and fans want Intro The Stooges, "No Fun" Outro The Scruffs, "You're No Fun" Banter * Ben shares that Michael Lorenzen was the first player since Babe Ruth to hit a home run, play in the field, and get a pitcher win in the same game. Sam is not impressed with this as a fun fact since we already knew that Lorenzen was a two way player. * Nelson Cruz's strong offensive performance this season is nearly identical to David Ortiz's final season. * Baseball Twitter and Bryce Harper age conspiracy theories * Ben discusses an article he recently wrote about the future of the knuckleball and how new technology could help preserve it. He and Sam also consider how robot umpires might be better at calling knuckleballs. Email Questions * Curtis: "Billy Hamilton's max exit velocity this season is 99.9 MPH. No one since 2015 with at least 100 batted ball events has not hit a ball at least 100 MPH." * Hoody: "Nobody's Hit 4 Bombs In One Game In 2019. It just seems odd that nobody had done this in 2019, the homery-est season ever. After looking at the 18 who have done it, however, they don't seem particularly clustered during times when home runs were more frequent, so maybe it is more randomly occurring than not. Anyway, just curious. If I'm honest, I thought somebody might hit 5 this year." * Max (San Francisco, CA): "In episode 1422 you mention that under 1865 rules all catches were outs, even ones in the stands. Let's say MLB had this rule, what would be the ramifications? Would fans have to try out for lower level seats? What would be the optimal spacing? Would the Yankees outspend everyone by employing ex-minor leaguers as fans? What about visiting fans?" * Mike: "I'm fascinated with the 2014 Tigers. They had so much talent on-paper. They had Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Miguel Cabrera, David Price, Ian Kinsler, and Annibal Sanchez in their primes; Joe Nathan, Victor Martinez, Torii Hunter and Joakim Soria past their primes; and Eugenio Suarez, Rick Porcello, Robbie Ray, Nick Castellanos, and JD Martinez before they had their best seasons. This made me think -- what's the most career WAR one team has had at one time?" * Dario (Brisbane, Australia): "I think that MLB should commission the Great Baseball Survey. There are so many initiatives that are trying to draw more people to the game but there seems to be a dearth of data on what people really want. I for one hate nearly all the changes that are proposed! They could run a campaign like they do with all-star voting to garner responses, including quaint paper surveys at games. What should the questions be?" Stat Blast * Sam's Stat Blast segment is based off of Mike's question about teams with the most career WAR on them. * The 1928 Philadelphia Athletics' roster accumulated 1,138 career WAR. * Sam says that about half of the top 100 teams by career WAR are from the Yankees and that the Yankees occupy most of the top 25 teams. * The 2000 Yankees were the first team since the 1928 Athletics to cross the 1,000 WAR mark. * The 2005 and 2012 Yankees are the closest to the Athletics, Sam thinks that they or the 2017 Dodgers could end up breaking the record. Notes * There have only been about 200 knuckleballs thrown this season. * Bill Hamilton's hardest hit ball in the Statcast era is 107 MPH. * Sam says that he has avoided answering the question about catching balls in the stands because "I didn't have it in me to talk about the darkness of people". Sam describes a scenario where a fan drops a foul ball during a crucial moment of the game and faces anger from team fans. * Ben and Sam estimate that 5 outs per game could be made in the stands and that teams would either buy out entire parts of the stadium or pay a few hundred players to be in the stands. * Sam is excited that in Ben's knuckleball article he referenced Sam's pick of Phil Niekro looking old on baseball cards in Episode 996. * Cody Bellinger has hit 44 home runs this season, each off a different pitcher. The record for most home runs in a season off all unique pitchers is 40 by Albert Pujols. * Several listeners followed up on Episode 1425 with other underutilized player skills. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1426: Fun or Foul * Lorenzen achieves feat last done by Babe in '21 by Alyson Footer * How Nelson Cruz Beat the Aging Curve to Become One of the Best Hitters in Baseball by Ben Lindbergh * The Knuckleball Isn't Dead Yet by Ben Lindbergh * Foul Balls Are The Pace-Of-Play Problem Nobody's Talking About by Travis Sawchik * What is the greatest collection of talent ever on one roster? by Sam Miller Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes